diff --git a/packages/astro/package.json b/packages/astro/package.json
index 25dc8111..9809010b 100644
--- a/packages/astro/package.json
+++ b/packages/astro/package.json
@@ -29,5 +29,8 @@
   },
   "volta": {
     "extends": "../../package.json"
+  },
+  "astro": {
+    "external": true
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/astro/src/index.ts b/packages/astro/src/index.ts
index 81f54661..9eb0606d 100644
--- a/packages/astro/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/astro/src/index.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import { setupSidecar } from '@spotlightjs/sidecar';
 import type { AstroIntegration } from 'astro';
 import { SPOTLIGHT_CLIENT_INIT, SPOTLIGHT_SERVER_SNIPPET } from './snippets';
 
@@ -24,7 +23,9 @@ const createPlugin = (): AstroIntegration => {
         addDevOverlayPlugin(pluginPath);
       },
       'astro:server:start': async () => {
-        console.log('astro:server:start ------------');
+        // Importing this dynamically because for some reason, the top level import
+        // caused a dev server error because sidecar code was bundled into the server
+        const { setupSidecar } = await import('@spotlightjs/sidecar');
         setupSidecar();
       },
     },